Friday, November 09, 2007

The Creepy Similarities Between George W. Bush and Vlad the Impaler

By MARC MCDONALD

They were both petulant, arrogant, and convinced that they were doing God's work. They were both out-of-control, power-mad leaders. As youngsters, they both enjoyed torturing small animals. Both spent their ruling years engaged in horrific wars against Islamic nations. And despite their cruel, bloodthirsty and savage ways, both have fanatical supporters who defend their actions to this day.

Who am I talking about?

George W. Bush and Vlad The Impaler.

Vlad, who is believed to have served as the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula novel was, in real life, a 15th century prince of the East European state of Wallachia (now part of Romania).

Like Bush, Vlad was born into a background of wealth, power and privilege. Like Bush's dad, Vlad's father, Vlad II Dracul, was a head of state, as well. Both father and son spent their reigns engaged in bloody wars against Muslim nations (the Ottoman Empire, in the case of Vlad).

Even as youngsters, George W. Bush and Vlad The Impaler had creepy similarities in their lives. Both shared an enthusiasm for torturing small animals.

The 1990 book, Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times points out that as a youngster, Vlad amused himself by torturing and mutilating small animals:

"...he could not cure himself of the evil habit of catching mice and having birds bought at the marketplace, so that he could punish them by impalement."

As The New York Timesreported, in a May 21, 2000 article, George W. Bush also enjoyed torturing small animals as a youngster. "We were terrible to animals," Bush childhood friend Terry Throckmorton was quoted as saying. Throckmorton described how Bush and his friends treated frogs they found on the Bush family estate.

"Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them," Throckmorton said. "Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up."

The life stories of George W. Bush and Vlad The Impaler share other similarities. Taking a look at their time in power, one can't help but notice the eerie similarities in both rulers' bloody, savage wars against Muslim nations.

The atrocities that occurred in Vlad The Impaler's military campaigns against the Muslim nations are well documented. Reading about these atrocities, one can't help but be reminded of the various horrors of Bush's war in Iraq, including the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse case, as well as the use of flesh-melting white phosphorous chemical weapons against the population of Fallujah.

Both Bush and Vlad, of course, were advocates of torture during their time in power. Bush enthusiastically embraced waterboarding. And Vlad, of course, was a big fan of the torture technique that gave him his nickname ("The Impaler").

Another similarity is that Bush and Vlad were both famous as tough, law-and-order rulers (as long as those accused of breaking the law weren't wealthy cronies). In Vlad's time, the peasants were so frightened of breaking the law, that it is said that one could leave a bag of gold on the street and return to find it untouched the next day.

Of course, "law and order" has long been one of Bush's favorite campaign themes, dating back to his time as Texas governor. In Bush's five years as governor, Texas executed 152 prisoners, by far the highest total for any state and more than any other governor in modern American history.

One final notable similarity between George W. Bush and Vlad The Impaler is how both men have fanatical followers who continue to passionately defend their legacies to this day.

While Vlad is recognized in the West as a bloodthirsty monster and tyrant, many people in Romania regard Vlad as a national hero to this day. As Dracula, Prince of Many Faces points out, oral Romanian folklore made Vlad "a national hero, a kind of George Washington of Romanian history."

Compare that to today's worship of Bush by the nutcase right-wing fringe. From Fox News to hatewing radio to the right-wing blogosphere, Bush has a fanatical following that throws a temper tantrum any time someone dares to criticize their beloved hero.

19 comments:

Anonymous
said...

***Please,give me a fuckin break.This Ass Clown of American cannot even speak a full sentence.Impaler my ass.This Awol-Coward, silver spoon feed litttle of a man just needs an old fashion ass-wipin,,,and again,and again.He needs to be confronted with a in -your face Truth Chicken nugget.The OIL/Blood, this fucking coward HAS ON HIS hands,-will be his Revlent.---------

Bush, for all his second-grade-level "sanctimonious" pseudo-religious pontification, obviously serves the true anti-Christ which is why he will never let cheney be impeached and/or will immediately pardon him. Can't have the big boss held accountable or, in the unlikely event the rest of the civilized world has their way and prosecutes chenelzebub for war crimes, doin' time now, can he?

In all fairness, one must also realize that the Ottoman empire at that time was an expansionist power. Vlad's country was a tiny one and the Ottomans were huge. It wasn't a situation where Vlad was fighting Muslims for merely being Muslims. Vlad was fighting for his country against the invading Ottomans. Vlad was also trapped between two powers in the Hungarian Empire and the Ottomans, so he was not in the same situation as bush. In addition, Vlad had been a hostage of the Ottomans in his youth and had suffered somewhat at their hands, so it couldn't be surprising that he wouldn't be so nice to them when they attacked his people. The times were also different. It was the time of the Wars of the Roses where people were routinely tortured in England. It was also the time of the Inquisition in Spain which weren't noted for being particularly kind and gentle.

I would maintain that bush is a whole lot worse given that now we are supposed to be more enlightened and "christian" and indeed bush has made much hay out of his compassionate nature. I don't believe Vlad ever claimed to be a compassionate conservative.

I was in Romania making a film a year ago, and they love them some Vlad. I heard many bizarre tales of the various ways he crushed his foes. He's kind of like a really violent King Arthur.

And he has a big mustache, and looks nothing like Dracula. The vampire thing has pretty much nothing to do with it.

They hate George Bush, though.

In Vlad's defense, however, he had a crummy upbringing, being kidnapped by, I think, the Turks and living much of his life as a prisoner. Nothing like that ever happened to Bonnie Prince Georgle that would explain his violent tendencies.

Err, It is really sad when "anyone The Impaler" comes off as a better person then ones (elected) president.

Vlad, -not the nicest,- but really no leader was at the time. I don't think anyone mentioned that most of Vlad's bad Rep. came from German Pamphleteers printing propaganda in order to justify their own power grab in the region.

I'm pretty sure we have reasonably correct info on bushie.

Oh and there is thought that he was basically bat shit insane from his imprisonment as a child and the murders of his father and Brother by the Boyars (rich business people).

He also didn't pretend very hard to be "christian", then again the Church was trying to get his kingdom too if I remember my McNally and Florescu correctly.(all this and, I'm not even Romanian!)

"***Please,give me a fuckin break.This Ass Clown of American cannot even speak a full sentence.Impaler my ass.This Awol-Coward, silver spoon feed litttle of a man just needs an old fashion ass-wipin,,,and again,and again.He needs to be confronted with a in -your face Truth Chicken nugget.The OIL/Blood, this fucking coward HAS ON HIS hands,-will be his Revlent.---------"

Dude you're a fucking moron did you know that? Get your facts straight and don't compare Bush with Vlad.

As Vlad defended his country from an empire constantly attacking his land and trying to conquer it for several centuries he did not: Spend his ruling years engaged in horrific wars against Islamic nations.

He only DEFENDED HIS LAND. He never went attacking The Ottoman Empire. He did not choose to spend his 45 years of life fighting, he was forced to. Bush chose to start wars rather than end them.

Besides Vlad only was cruel to those who deserved it. Thiefs, murderers, national enemies were impaled BUT they deserved it. I don't think he killed innocent people like Bush did.

Further more, VLAD FUCKING LED HIS ARMY, he engaged into battle, he was there with his sword in his hand DEFENDING HIS LAND. He did not send his army to die for oil or money, and if he did send his army to sure death, it was for good reasons and he made sure he was right behind them to die too.

I'll give you that in essence there are similarities...but you mother fucker are so narrow minded you just look at the small picture. Get your wanker nose out of your fucking superficial ass visit Romania and ask people about Vlad Tepesh (The Impaler) then go to the states and ask 10 people about Bush and be amazed you idiot.

Vlad was, is and will always be considered a national here and is tributed by history as a ruler who defended his country, while Bush will never be.

So before you compare a hero with an idiot, you'd better first get your facts straight.

You can moderate my comment for all i care, this comment is for your "blind" eyes mostly.

.

About This Blog

Welcome to BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com, the progressive political blog of Marc McDonald. A Texas journalist, McDonald worked for 15 years for several newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, before he quit his day job and set up shop in cyberspace in 1995. McDonald's articles have appeared in a number of popular progressive Web sites, including Crooks and Liars, The Reaction, Buzzflash.com, Salon.com, OpEdNews.com, The Neil Rogers Show and The Raw Story. McDonald's Web articles have also been featured and reviewed by various national and international media, including CNN Headline News, the BBC, CBS, the Washington Post, USA Today and many more. On June 3, 2011, I was interviewed on the progressive radio program, "Voices at Work." Go here to hear my interview with host Ron Gonyea. I am always available for media interviews on progressive issues. Contact me here.